Rod Grams: “every sports fan in America celebrated along with Baltimore's Cal Ripken last night; when he played in his 2,131…”

“every sports fan in America celebrated along with Baltimore's Cal Ripken last night; when he played in his 2,131 consecutive game and broke a baseball record most thought could never be toppled. That is an impressive feat; even more impressive when you consider that ``The Streak'' represents more than 13 years of dedication, sacrifice, and plenty of hard work. There is another consecutive streak you should know about, one that has not received nearly the attention that Cal Ripken's has, but one that affects a lot more people, and imposes an enormous cost on the American taxpayers. Worst of all, this streak has gone on unchecked for more than 30 years. Since the Great Society programs of the 1960's--for three long decades--taxpayers have suffered through a consecutive Federal spending streak that has taken more than 5 trillion of their tax dollars and siphoned them off to fund a welfare system that, frankly, has done more harm than good. Mr. President, I hope Cal Ripken's streak goes on forever, but the uncontrolled welfare spending streak must come to an end, and it is up to us to stop it.”